Double-deck railway passenger car with increased seating capacity



Patented Apr. 28, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE' DOUBLE-DECK RAILWAY PASSENGER CAR l VITH INCREASED SEATING CAPACITY Joseph F. Clary, Glencoe, Ill., assignor to The Budd Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corpra-' tion of Pennsylvania Application March 27, 1952, Serial No. 278,855

The aforesaid co-pending application discloses a railway passenger car having on a lower or main floor double rows of seats on both sides of a center aisle and having a single row of seats such aisle.

The present invention provides for a still greater seating capacity by arranging the longitudinal aisle laterally oil? the longitudinal middle plane or line of the vehicle, by arranging on on raised galleries arranged on opposite sides of '15 the lower floor three rows of seats on one side and two rows of seats on the other side of the aisle. and by providing galleries of diiferent widths, one gallery having one row and the other gallery two rows of seats in addition to the respective passage thereon.

One embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the attached drawing and described in the following.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of a double-deck car;

Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of the lower deck or floor, the section being taken approximately along line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view of the upper deck or galleries, the section being taken sub tantially along line 33 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic cross-section on a somewhat larger scale substantially along lines 4-4 of Figs. 2 and 3.

The illustrated car is supported near its ends by trucks diagrammatically indicated by their wheels Ill. The body comprises floor ll, side walls l2 and I3, end walls l4, and a roof 15. The side walls are provided with center entrance doors 16 from which steps I! lead to a central vestibule 18. A lower row of windows l9 and an upper row of windows 29 are provided in each side wall. The end walls 14 have passage door openings 2| of standard location, shape, and dimensions and are equipped for connection to adjoining cars, such as with diaphragms 22.

On floor I! is a triple row of seats 23 adjoining side wall l2, and a double row of seats 24 adjoinill, give access to the galleries.

5 Claims. (01. -340) ing side wall [3, the tworows leaving between them an aisle 25. v

Aisle 25 is laterally offset with respect to the longitudinal middle line or vertical center plane of the car. The oifsetting may be reversed on opposite sides of vestibule IS.

The aisleis in communication with the centrally located end doors 2| by widening its ends and by omitting the last inner seat of the triple row of seats. Restrooms 26 are arranged at the end of and in line with the double row of seats.

Galleries 21, 23 adjoin respectively the side walls l2 and I3 and are arranged respectively over the seats 23 and 24. Gallery 21 is wider than galleryZB so that the space between the two galleries is about vertically. above the space between the seats 23 and 24 and thereby provides headroom'for' persons walking in aisleZE.

The floors of the galleries areless than standing height above lower floor I I so that the passengers have to stoop down in entering and leaving seats 23, 24.

Gallery 2! carries on its raised lateral portion 29 two rows of seats 30, while gallery 28, on a raised portion-3l,'carries one row of seats 9-. Both. galleries providebetween end seats and the railings 33 along their inner margin an aisle or passage 34 giving access to the seats. arranged directly adjacent the central Stairs 35, vestibule The wider galleries 21 are narrowed near the end walls I 4 for establishing unhampered communication between aisle 25 and the end doors 2|. Adjoining the end walls, both the galleries 21 and 28 have double seats, as shown in Fig. 3.

Package racks 36 are arranged adjoining the side walls l2 and it partly extending into the space provided by raised gallery floor portions 29, 3|. Package racks 31 for the occupants of the galleries are arranged above aisle 25 at a short distance below roof 15.

The invention is not restricted to the illustrated details but is susceptible to modification and. adaptations which will easily occur to those skilled in the art; For instance, the location of the entrance doors and of the staircases may be changed, for which examples are disclosed in applicants earlier application identified hereinbefore. Another example for a modification is the different ratio between the number of seats on opposite sides of the aisle; indeed, there might be only one side gallery on one side and no gallery on the other side of the main floor aisle.

What is claimed is:

1. In a railway passenger car having a main floor and having side walls interconnected by said floor and a roof, said main floor extending substantially from end to end of the car; seating accommodations arranged on the main floor adjacent the respective side walls and between said walls and a longitudinal aisle extending substantially from the main floor to the roof, the seating accommodations on opposite sides of said aisle having different width and said aisle being arranged laterally off the longitudinal middle line of the car; gallery floors, accessible by stairs, arranged along both sides of the car and extending inwardly from the respective sidewalls to the aisle, seats arranged on each "gallery floor along one margin thereof leaving a longitudinal passageway on each gallery; floor between the associated seats and the other margin thereof, the gallery floors on opposite sides having difiere ent width and correspondingly'different Widths of the seats on them; the gallery floors extending substantially the full length of the car except for the space taken up by doorways and stairs.

'In railway passenger 'car'hav'ing a main floor. and having side walls interconnectedhy said floor and a rooffsaid main floofextending substan-, tially from end to end oi the car; a longitudinal aisle onsaid main floor arranged laterally on? the longitudinal middle line of thecar; seating accommodations arranged on said main floor between said side walls and said aisle, said seating accommodations consisting'oi a double row of seats on one side and a triple row ofseats on the other side of said aisle; gallery fioors. of different widths, accessible by stairs, arranged along both sides of the car and extending in! e rd f he e ec ve ide W ll to aid aisle; seating accommodations arran ed Q ach gallery floor along one margin and leaving a longitudinal passageway along the other margin thereof, the last-named seating accommodations comprising a single row of seats on the narrower gallery and a double row of seats on the wider gallery.

3.-In a railway passenger car having a main floor and having side walls interconnected by said floor and a roof; seating accommodations arranged on the main floor adjacent the respective side walls and between said walls and a longitudinal aisle, said aisle extending substantially from the main floor to the roof and being arranged substantially nearer to the one than to the other of said side walls; a gallery floor, accessible by stairs, adjoining the side walls spaced farther away than the other side wall from said aisle and extending to the adjacent side of said aisle; a double row of seats arranged on said gallery floor along one margin thereof leaving a longitudinal passageway between the seats and the other margin thereof.

4. In a railway passenger car having a main floor and end walls and having side walls interconnected by said floor and a roof, said main floor extending substantially from end to end of the car; seating accommodations arranged on the main floor adjacent the respective side walls and between said walls and a longitudinal aisle extending substantially from the main floor to the rooi, the seating accommodations on opposits sides of said aisle having different width and said aisle being arranged laterally 01f the longitudinal middle line of the car; gallery floors; accessible by stairs, arrangedalong both sides'of the car and extending inwardly from the respective side walls to the aisle, seats n d n. sa h alle y 'fl r along ne m r n h thereof leaving a lpi gitudinal passageway on each aller -floor between the associated seats and the othermargin thereof, the gallery floors on' opposite sides having different widthand core respondingly different widths of the seats on them; the gallery floors extending substantially the full length of the car except for the spaee taken up by doorways and stairs; centrally located passage doors in said end walls, said aisle being widened at its ends for. communication with'said passage doors by. correspondingre: duction of the width of the wider seating ac:- commodations on said main floor and of the wider, gallery floor adjacent said end walls.

5, Ina railway passenger car, a main floor carrying seating accommodations, in the form of rows of seats, on both sides of a longitudinal aisle; gallery floors, with seating 'accommodar tions and accessible by stairs, along opposite sides of the car and extending to said aisle; said aisle being locafifid farther away from one side of the car than from the other side by an aliquot mul tiple of the width of, a row of seats.

J PH F- @1 93? No references cited. 

